Bigfork native and World War II vet celebrates his centennial

The Glacier Park Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars celebrated World War II veteran Donald “Bud” Robinson with its first centenarian challenge coin last week.

The freshly minted challenge coin was gifted to commemorate the Bigfork native’s 100th birthday. Bigfork Seniors Club and Kalispell Assisted Living have additional celebrations planned for this week to honor the longstanding community figure known to many as “Uncle Bud.”  

Born April 21, 1925, at the Kalispell General Hospital, Robinson spent his childhood in the budding town of Bigfork. In his free time, he hunted in the nearby mountains or fished on the Flathead River with his younger brother, John. As he grew up, Robinson took on a series of odd jobs, starting with a position hawking papers for the Daily Inter Lake. 

“[They] hired me for $6 a month and then I got half of anything I sold for the papers,” Robinson recalled in an interview with the Bigfork History Network. “The papers sold for, I think, five or ten cents apiece, and I got half of that. I had about 35 customers. I guess it probably took almost a year for me to accumulate enough money to buy a bicycle.” 

Robinson later worked night shift on the ferry that ran out of Holt before taking a job servicing cars at a gas station. By then, the United States had entered World War II, and the town’s population began to dwindle. Robinson remembered starting high school with about 45 classmates, but only 17 remained by graduation.   

“The population went down to almost nothing during the war,” he said. “It was really a skimpy town.” 

ROBINSON SAID his goodbyes to Flathead Valley in 1943, when his draft card was pulled. He entered the Navy hoping to work on submarines. The military had other plans for the 18-year-old, and Robinson instead boarded the USS Coronis. 

Less than a month into Robinson’s deployment, a submarine blinked onto the ship’s sonar. The crew immediately launched four or five “Hedgehog” projectiles at the unidentified vessel, ending the skirmish before it could even start. Robinson watched as a trail of oil drifted up from the ocean depths and unspooled on the water’s surface. 

“Right then, I thought, by God, I’m lucky I didn’t get into the submarines,” he told the Bigfork History Network. 

But Robinson soon discovered his own position was just as dangerous. While Robinson’s main role on the ship involved manning its distillation machine, which transformed seawater into potable freshwater for the sailors to drink, he also manned a 20 mm anti-aircraft gun when the ship entered enemy territory. As a gunner, he was a prime target for Japanese kamikaze pilots, who purposefully crashed their planes into Allied navy ships. 

In 1945, Robinson’s crew joined 1,600 other U.S. naval ships off the coast of Okinawa. For three months, the crew weathered a near-constant maelstrom of Japanese aircraft while ground forces battled inland. 

“These pilots would come in at night, just one plane after another,” said Robinson. “You didn’t know for sure if you grounded them or not.” 

With over 4,900 casualties and nearly as many wounded, the Battle of Okinawa was the U.S. Navy’s costliest fight during World War II. Japanese aircraft sank 32 U.S. Navy ships, but the Coronis weathered the firestorm without any damage. The Allied victory expediated the war’s end, and, by 1946, Robinson was making his way back across the Pacific. 

“I was glad to get out of there,” he said of his discharge. 

BACK IN Bigfork, Robinson opened Bud's Bar next to his mother’s cafe on Electric Avenue. The saloon became a favorite watering hole for locals, and Robinson gained his own reputation as a hometown hero, earning the nickname of Uncle Bud. Robinson said he wasn’t sure where it came from, but it seemed to stick, even after he left the bar business. 

In the late 1950s, Robinson started a home construction company with his friend, Bill Henry, and he co-founded the nonprofit now known as the Community Foundation for a Better Bigfork in the early 1960s. Along the way, Robinson met and married Lila Baker, a waitress at a restaurant in nearby Woods Bay. The two remained together until Baker’s death in 2002. 

Robinson met the second love of his life, Maxine Gates, a few years later. In his 80s by then, Robinson decided to build a house from scratch for him and his wife. It took him about six months to build the home and another six months to plant 4,000 trees near the house. In the following years, the couple sold the trees to landscapers and homeowners. 

Robinson said finishing the project at the age of 83 was one of the proudest moments in his life. Gates died in 2020, and Robinson now lives full-time at Kalispell Assisted Living, but he still visits the house from time to time. He enjoys sitting by the pond, which he dug out himself, and watching the ducks and geese drift across the water.  

The peace is well-earned. 

“It’s quite an accomplishment,” Robinson said of turning 100 years old. “I sure never thought I’d last this long.” 

Reporter Hailey Smalley can be reached at hsmalley@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4433. 

    Robinson is the first person to receive a centurion challenge coin from the Glacier Park Post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. (Hailey Smalley/Daily Inter Lake)
  

    Donald "Bud" Robinson in his U.S. Navy uniform.